Woven Silk
1690-1700 (made)
| Place of origin |
On a cream satin ground the pattern is formed by two silk lancé wefts (green and ivory) and by numerous brocading wefts (silk in shades of green, pink, brown and cream; various kinds of twisted silk threads; metal threads and chenille threads in blue, pink and brown). The repeat is incomplete. However, since other pieces with the same design are known and published, it is possible to say that the detail of a seated man seen along the upper edge of the fragment is in fact a section of the depiction of Apollo with his lyre, seated beneath Mount Helicon, from which Pegasus strikes out with his hoof the fountain Hippocrene (those parts of the motifs missing). Furthermore, the pattern comprises of a man (most probably Hercules) fighting with a lion, a unicorn, a turkey, a peacock, two fantastic fountains, a cypress tree, numerous flowers and a palm tree (the trunk seen partially to the left of Apollo).
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | |
| Brief description | brocaded lancé satin, late 17th century, Spanish. |
| Physical description | On a cream satin ground the pattern is formed by two silk lancé wefts (green and ivory) and by numerous brocading wefts (silk in shades of green, pink, brown and cream; various kinds of twisted silk threads; metal threads and chenille threads in blue, pink and brown). The repeat is incomplete. However, since other pieces with the same design are known and published, it is possible to say that the detail of a seated man seen along the upper edge of the fragment is in fact a section of the depiction of Apollo with his lyre, seated beneath Mount Helicon, from which Pegasus strikes out with his hoof the fountain Hippocrene (those parts of the motifs missing). Furthermore, the pattern comprises of a man (most probably Hercules) fighting with a lion, a unicorn, a turkey, a peacock, two fantastic fountains, a cypress tree, numerous flowers and a palm tree (the trunk seen partially to the left of Apollo). |
| Subjects depicted | |
| Bibliographic reference | An example woven in the same technique and with identical design was published in the sale catalogue Textiles from the Sangiorgi Collection (by Donald King; Spink & Son Ltd, London, 1985, cat. 28). Its dimensions allow the repeat to be viewed entirely. It was labeled as Silk textile / Portugal or Southern Spain, late 17th or first half 18th century, and its entry - apart from the description (interpretation) of the motifs - also contains the following: Other pieces are known with the same design, but in reverse; one of them is in the Detroit Institute of Art (2000 Years of Silk Weaving, New York 1944, no. 341, pl. 71; A.C. Weibel, Two Thousand Years of Textiles, 1952, no. 272). A number of related silks show a similar combination of rich and elaborate weaving and a naively composed, asymmetrical pattern, often including motifs from classical mythology. They have been attributed to Portugal or Andalucia.
The example in the Detroit Institute of Art was published as Chenille Brocade and given the title The Pagan Paradise. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | T.113-1941 |
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| Record created | June 24, 2009 |
| Record URL |
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